Music Banter - View Single Post - The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal
View Single Post
Old 07-25-2011, 01:12 PM   #94 (permalink)
Trollheart
Born to be mild
 
Trollheart's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: 404 Not Found
Posts: 26,970
Default

The eyes of the shadow --- Silent Edge --- 2003 (DVS)


You know how some bands slip right under your radar, and then one day you hear them and you think “Holy crap! How have I missed these guys?” Well, be prepared to utter that amazed and incredulous phrase, because if you haven't heard of Silent Edge before (and I'm willing to bet you haven't), then you are in for one hell of an experience! They hail from Holland, and this is, to date, their only album, which is disheartening, as it having been released eight years ago puts a follow-up somewhat in doubt, but then, longer hiatuses have occurred --- check the review of Boston's “Third stage” a few posts back. So hopefully we've not heard the last of these guys. But if we have, what an opening and parting shot they have left us in this album.

A mixture of power rock/power metal/prog metal and some neoclassical rock/metal, “The eyes of the shadow” is an album that you will not be skipping tracks on. “Through different eyes” lays down the gauntlet to many a more established but in some ways inferior power metal band, with its fantastic keyboard and guitar sound, overlaid by the soaring vocals of Willem Verwoert. The song powers along on thunderous drums, extremely tight guitar courtesy of Emo Suripatty, meshing perfectly with the frantic keysplay of Minggus Gaspersz: some of the sudden timing changes are quite amazing, but there's nary a beat dropped nor a note missed. A band in perfect synch, indeed.

(Sorry, but I was only able to find one YT of these guys. Hopefully it'll give you a flavour of what they're all about. Why aren't they better known?? )

There are only ten tracks on the album, but as I said, each one is a stormer: no filler material here! Things get, if you can believe it, faster and more frenetic with a fantastic keyboard intro to “Savage symphony”, Suripatty's guitar growling like something alive, Matthew Boer's drums pounding out the beat while bassist Andre Hendriks keeps the rhythm section nice and tight. It may seem like hyperbole, but really, the calibre of the musicianship is so top-notch here that you can almost believe you're listening to something Mozart would have composed, had he lived to the twenty-first century, and taken up power metal! There's just no letup at all, as the epic eight-minute “Wasted lands” kicks in with a heavy intro of keys and doomsday drumming, For half of the track it's a smoking, slowburning churner of a song, then the keys really let fly and the guitar joins in as the whole thing rockets off to another place altogether. Playing this fine I have not heard for a long time. And then, just when you think it's going to fly off to the stratosphere to the end, everything calms down again and the original rhythm returns, to take the song to its triumphant conclusion.

Man, I feel worn out already, and we're only three tracks in! Luckily there's now time to catch the breath, as the superb acoustic ballad --- the only one on the album --- is next, the wonderful and emotive “The curse I hold”. This really showcases Verwoert's powerful voice, as it's just him and Suripatty's gorgeous acoustic guitar playing that carries this song. Only one ballad, as I say, but when it's of this quality, I certainly don't mind. Things get right back into the speed groove then for “Crusades”, a galloping instrumental which takes us into another epic, the frankly incredible “For ancient times”. Again this kicks off with keyboard flurries that really make me wonder if Gaspersz is not actually some sort of human/octopus hybrid? How can one man move his fingers that fast?

The song takes a break in the middle, slowing down for an instrumental section driven again on the keyboards of Gaspersz the Octo-Human, very fugue-like, which builds in intensity and power as Suripatty's guitar crashes in to add weight to the section, along with Boer's powerhouse drumming and the tough bass of Hendriks.Having had a nice three-minute rest, Verwoert comes powering back in to take the song to its pounding conclusion. And again I feel worn out, but in a good way.

The boys slow it down just a little then, for one of those rock crunchers that just drags you along. “Lost conscience” is replete with chugging guitar and swirling keyboards, the drumming on this track a little more pedestrian than other tracks, but still powerful. Suripatty outdoes himself on the axe in the closing stages of this track, and then we're into “Under a shaded moon”, kicking the tempo right back up, slamming the foot on the pedal and taking off on an Iron Maidenesque rocker, Verwoert again delivering crystal clear and powerful vocals, while Gaspersz and Surpiatty trade licks, again demonstrating the incredible timing this band has, and the almost telepathic understanding between them. The song has a great hook, and you'll be singing it long after the album has finished, I can tell you.

So is that the end of the epics? Nah, not on your life! “Rebellion” is just one second short of nine minutes, so the longest track on the album, and it kicks off in power-speed mode, Boer hammering the drums so fast and hard you feel sure his arms must fall off! It's no small tribute to Silent Edge that their longer songs --- and there are three here which are over eight minutes --- never feel overstretched, laboured or even that long. It can be surprising to finish listening to something like “Rebellion” and realise nine minutes has passed. Certainly doesn't feel like it. These guys must be white-hot on stage!

And as if this isn't a good enough end to the album, we then get “Rebellion (The Awakening)”, a piano-driven ballad (Yes, I know I said there was only one ballad, but as this is sort of a continuation of “Rebellion”, I don't really count it as … oh well, okay then: have it your way!) in the mould of “The curse I hold”, up to about a minute from the end, when Suripatty's guitar makes its final bow, in a stunning reprise that just ends the track, and the album perfectly.

No matter what I write here, it's not going to be sufficient to get across the quality of this album. Listen to the single YouTube here, the only one I could find, but make sure to click the download link and listen to the album, and you too, will understand. In the words of Alex from The Metal Observer: "Wow!", "This is…how could…damn…" (THE METAL OBSERVER - Review - SILENT EDGE - The Eyes Of The Shadow)

Could not have said it better myself.

TRACKLISTING

1. Through different eyes
2. Savage symphony
3. Wasted lands
4. The curse I hold
5. Crusades
6. For ancient times
7. Lost conscience
8. Under a shaded moon
9. Rebellion
10. Rebellion (The Awakening)
__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Last edited by Trollheart; 11-04-2011 at 01:04 PM.
Trollheart is offline   Reply With Quote